Yan, Oct 30- Young voters in Sungai Limau should look at the things that Barisan Nasional (BN) are capable of doing to further develop the state constituency should it win the state by-election.
BN’s candidate for the by-election, Dr Ahmad Sohaimi Lazim, said: “There are already some development being done because the BN has never adopted the hands-off policy, even when this constituency (Sungai Limau) was under the opposition.
“In fact, the fishermen and the farmers have received the same treatment regardless of their political beliefs. However, if elected, I’m sure we will be able to bring more effective development,” he told reporters at BN operation room here.
He said before casting their votes at the by-election on Nov 4, the young voters should also judge for themselves the results and achievements of BN and Umno in the social, economic and human capital development all this years as the BN government had an outstanding and proven track record in ruling the country.
“I was one of the many recipients of government scholarship, right from the moment I entered university for my Bachelor’s degree up to my doctoral degree.
“I can talk about this because I know and I have enjoyed the fruits of the government’s efforts to ensure that our education system is of high quality and efficient. It is the political differences that prevent some people from accepting the reality,” he said.
A total of 27,222 voters, 11,000 of whom were young voters, would cast their votes at the Sungai Limau by-election on Nov 4 to pick between Ahmad Sohaimi and PAS’ candidate Mohd Azam Abd Samat as their new representative.
Ahmad Sohaimi also expressed hope that the voters would be able to decide which contesting party was more sincere and committed to bring development to the state constituency.
“I’m sure the opposition have the same noble intention, but they don’t have the support from the state and federal government and that’s their biggest weakness,” said the former senior lecturer of Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris.
He said he was not planning to implement a drastic development agenda as he had to take into consideration the sociological factor and the lifestyles of the local residents.
Therefore, Ahmad Sohaimi said he planned to ensure that the ‘pondok’ education system, which was synonymous with Sungai Limau, would be preserved and improved with elements of modern structure, such as having a Maahad Tahfiz with science-based education.
Ahmad Sohaimi, who is also former teacher at a religious school, said the pondok education system had progressed over the years and most of the schools had been upgraded to government-aided religious school, such as Sekolah Menengah Agama An-Nadzah and Sekolah Menengah Agama Fauzi.
“By changing the school’s status to government-aided school, we can see that the teachers are now being trained with professional teaching methods and the facilities being upgraded to perfection to improve the quality of education at the school,” he said, hoping that the religious-based and science-based education systems could be combined so that more Muslim professionals could be produced.
– Bernama
